Basak Kus is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Wesleyan University. She has studied, conducted research, and taught in the US, Europe, and the Middle East. She completed her undergraduate studies at Bogazici University in Istanbul, and obtained her PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Her research areas includecomparative capitalisms, inequality and class politics, neoliberal reforms, law and economy, finance and society, politics of economic crises, politics of debt, and economic development. She also writes about Turkish politics.